Droop the Goblin wanted to get in good with his new masters. They were interested in finding Cragmaw Castle, and Droop led them straight there.

As soon as the party could see the castle through the forest, they stopped. They sent the mage/thieves ahead to scout the perimeter.

While circling the perimeter, the two noticed a concealed entrance on the far side of the castle. This entrance was quickly selected as their entry point, over the front and side doors which were heavily guarded.

The concealed entrance led to a ruined tower. There was an entryway to the south, covered by a heavy curtain. There was a door to the east and a crumbled ruin of a wall with a small hole at the top to the northeast.

The elf mage/thief slipped in through the east door. It was an oddly triangular room with another door directly east and an entryway covered by curtain to the south. Jairus snuck south, tripped on a protruding edge of the wall, and slid under the curtain. A hobgoblin guard turned to see what the noise was. Jairus ignobly crawled a retreat.

The gladiator and priest entered the triangular room to cover Jairus' retreat. They met the hobgoblin in armed battle, but not before the creature could bang on the wall to the east, alerting those in the next room something was wrong. A second hobgoblin turned from his lookout perch to fire arrows at the party.

The barbarian was aggravated at the sound of battle she could not reach. She parted the curtain in the original tower to look south. She saw a hallway of crumbled walls and a dangerous looking ceiling. She entered to find a door to the east, a back way into the room with the hobgoblins. She entered and joined the fray.

After the hobgoblins were dispatched, the party crowded the eastern door, behind which was whatever parties the hobgoblin had alerted. The adventurers heard growling. The gladiator and barbarian opened the door, ready for an attack.

They were met by a large wolf, which lunged into the doorway. Behind the wolf, a fierce old bugbear swung a long mace. In the background, the party could see a dark elf and a tied-up Gundren Rockseeker.

The fighters held the doorway. Jairus was greatly concerned by the dark elf and cast a Magic Missile. The priest wanted to get to the downed dwarf and cast Sanctuary upon himself. Mist, fearing she had no way to join the battle, decided to check out the opening at the top of the rubble in the tower room. From the direction it faced, it just might lead in behind the current battle.

The barbarian slew the wolf, and the gladiator pushed into the room to fight the bugbear. Jairus hit the dark elf with a thrown dagger, and the elf bolted for an exit to the northwest. The priest made sure Gundren was stable, and then he turned to fight the bugbear.

The bugbear was soon dispatched, but the dark elf was escaping. Fortunately, Mist chose to enter in the exact spot the dark elf chose to escape. Mist could not stop the dark elf, but she did slow the elf down. Jairus cast a Leaping spell to chase after the elf as she tumbled past Mist to exit the castle. Jairus caught the dark elf before she entered the forest. He killed the creature with another throwing dagger. Upon her death, the dark elf reverted to her natural form...a doppleganger!

Back in the room, Gundren is healed and was grumbling about finding his map before he can leave. The party found the map under the bugbear's bed, along with some silver, some electrum, and three potions of healing. The party gathered the loot and the dwarf and headed out the same way they came in.

Conyberry and Agatha's Lair

The party was eager to head straight to Wave Echo Cave at this point, but Gundren was in no shape for travel. The party returned him to town to heal and gather provisions for the trip to the cave. In the meantime, they decided to explore some of the quests they were given in exchange for help fighting the Redbrands.

First they decided to head to Conyberry and Agatha's lair. This was the quest given them by Sister Garaele, the elf cleric of Tymora who aided the party with healing spells while fighting Redbrands. She wanted them to bribe Agatha, a banshee, with a jeweled comb in exchange for information.

The party traveled past the ruins of the old village of Conyberry and headed straight to Agatha's lair. They decided Jairus would be the spokesperson, since he is an elf as well and he is the smoothest talker of the group (highest Charisma). Jairus decided to wait until night to enter Agatha's hut. The barbarian spent her time circling the area. She noted that there was no fauna for miles around the lair.

When Agatha appeared, Jairus was polite, professional, and to the point. He did not stray from the goal or waste his question frivolously. He exchanged the jeweled comb for the information Garaele wanted and left in good standing with the banshee. In fact, she suggested he might visit her again in a hundred years or so.

The party decided to remove themselves as far as possible before camping, and made it back to the ruins of Conyberry before setting up camp. Other than a few stirges attracted to the fire, the night was uneventful.

Old Owl Well
The Old Owl Well was not too far out of the way on the party's return trip, and they were eager to complete the quest Daran Edermath had requested. They spied the well area on the approach, and saw the colorful tent set up in the middle. Mist, the Shadow Walker, used her special ability to raise an aura of darkness around herself and hid in shadows to examine the place. She came back to report a ring of 12 zombies around the camp and a stout, red-robed figure with sallow skin, a shaved scalp, and a black tattoo on his forehead inside the tent.

The party sent her walking amongst the darkness again, back to the tent, while they assaulted the camp from the entrance. Sanaka gave the "attack" order. The gladiator and the barbarian charged straight through camp to the colorful tent. The elf and the priest stopped to hold off zombies.

The red-robed figure stepped to the entrance of his tent, shot a Magic Missile at the charging barbarian out of self defense, and said "what is the meaning of this?!?"

Sanaka, feeling the red-robed man may wish to talk this over, yelled "Parlay!" Everyone stopped their attacks, except Mist. She tried to stab the man in the back from her hiding place in the tent. She got mostly robe, but did leave a cut in the man's flank. He turned and growled. The zombies starting moving again.

Sanaka called "Attack!" once more, and the red-robed man was beset upon by three vicious warrior women. He quickly feel to the overbearing attacks of the gladiator and barbarian. The zombies wandered the area mindlessly after the man was killed.

The party paused only a short time to deliberate on the ethics of their actions before they raided the dead man's supplies and took off once again for Phandalin.

They arrived to find Gundren healed, packed, and ready to ride for the caves.

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